The collection was originally housed at Chicago Public Library’s Legler Branch Library. Supplements to the collection were transferred and donated from numerous sources.

Access:

No restrictions

Citation:

When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: Englewood Community Collection [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library.

Processed:

In the 1980s, with a grant from the Dr. Scholl Foundation, Special Collections transferred and processed the collection to make it fully available for research by the public. Processed April 1989.

Historical Note

The Englewood neighborhood is 7 miles south of the Loop. The neighborhood stretches from Garfield Boulevard south to roughly 76th Street. Racine Avenue forms the western edge of the neighborhood, while the eastern boundary diverges. Englewood joined the city of Chicago as part of the large annexations of 1889. Englewood is number 68 of the 77 official communities in Chicago. For an overview of Englewood, see

Scope and Content

The ECC is organized into thirteen separate subject series. Photographs are listed following the Box and Folder Inventory. Cross referencing has been provided for related subjects appearing in different series or record groups.

The materials contained in the ECC document Englewood’s development from around the 1850s to the early 1960s. The ECC has a large collection of neighborhood photographs as well as files about local schools. Yearbooks, student notebooks and photographs of Lindblom and Parker High School as well as information on the Cook Country Normal School can be researched in this collection.

What follows is a list of important subjects located in the ECC:

Armstrong, James E.

The Budd Family

"Chicago Story - Englewood Section of Chicago" (album)

Cook Country Normal School

Hamilton Park

"History of Englewood"

Ickes, Harold L.

Lindblom High School

Parker High School

Anne Catholics Church

Wentworth School

Series Descriptions:

Series 1: Biographical Data, 1870 - 1950

This series is comprised mainly of photographs along with some manuscript materials on Englewood residents.

Series 2: Business Establishments, 1899 - 1948

This series is arranged alphabetically by the business establishment’s name. Materials contained in this series includes advertisements, anniversary programs, booklets and correspondence.

Series 3: Religious Institutions, 1886 - 1946 (predominantly 1930s)

This series is arranged alphabetically by name. Documents included in this series are anniversary brochures and programs, directories, publications and historical sketches.

Series 4: Clubs & Organizations, 1884 - 1948

This series documents club activities for over twenty clubs in the Englewood area. It is arranged alphabetically by club name. Records included in this series are minute books, membership lists, club publications and programs and invitations to club events.

Series 5: Community Historical Essays & Sketches, 1925, 1960, undated

This series contains historical essays and sketches about Englewood. The sketches are arranged alphabetically by the title of each.

Series 6: Hospitals, undated

This series contains one photograph of an Englewood hospital.

Series 7: Municipal Agencies, undated

This series contains no manuscript materials about Englewood’s municipal agencies. It is instead, comprised of photographs. The photographs are arranged in alphabetical order under the classification of Municipal Agencies.

Series 8: Parks, undated

This series contains information for two of Englewood’s parks. A historical essay is provided for Hamilton Park and photographs of Washington Park, formerly South Park, are available in this series.

Series 9: Residences, 1880 - 1920

This series of photographs documents the residential character of Englewood’s neighborhoods. It is arranged alphabetically by address (street name preceding numerical address).

Series 10: Schools, 1875 - 1966

This series documents the history of over ten Englewood schools. Available records include: annual yearbooks, student publications, historical sketches, newspaper clippings and photographs. The Papers of Englewood High School were found to be so extensive as to warrant their formation into a separate record group.

Series 11: Street Scenes, 1880 - 1940

This series is comprised solely of photographs of Englewood’s street scenes. The photographs are arranged alphabetically by each street’s name.

Series 12: Transportation, 1880 - 1950

Transportation, especially rail transportation, played a crucial part in Englewood’s development. This series documents a portion of Englewood’s transportation history through photographs. The transportation subjects are arranged alphabetically.

Series 13: War Time Activities, 1917- 1918, 1941 - 1945

This series records some of the Englewood neighborhood’s activities on the home front during this country’s two world wars.

Supplements

The materials in Supplement 1 are few but rich. They are described more fully in the Contents List. The items in folders 7:13, 15-18, and 20 were a donation of Alice Jacoby Harnish, who was born in Englewood in 1905. This material covers Mrs. Harnish’s teen years of the early 1920s. See also items from Mrs. Harnish in the Englewood High School collection. Early history of Englewood is shown in the business broadsides of the Englewood Roller Skating Rink, 1885 (7:14), and the concert program in South Park, 1877 (7:19).

Supplement 2 is stored in Boxes 8-9, and is largely comprised of yearbooks from area schools.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Photographs with the prefix 1. form the original accession, and were collected by the Englewood Historical Association and stored at the Hiram Kelly Branch of the Chicago Public Library.
Photographs with the prefix 2. are from the first supplement and were given by Mrs. Alice Jacoby Harnish.